Thank you Bloomsbury YA for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Havenfall
By: Sara Holland 

REVIEW ☆☆☆

It took me a while to read Havenfall. The story begins with too much information about the world, etc., and I got stuck in it. The type of fantasy is not my favorite, and I didn't connect with the characters. This book would do well with the right audience, but that isn't me.

Although this book took me quite some time to get into (I got about 50 pages in before I had to put it down and then came back to it.) , I'm not sure if I would recommend this book to people just because I wasn't too fond of the main character and it took me some time to get in to. . I did however like that there is a hidden inn with creatures, magic, and tons of mystery.  I rated this an overall 3 out of 5.

DNF'ed at 60% This started out interesting but I quickly lost interest. The main character was frustrating and naive and made such stupid choices consistently .Also there didn't seem to build a lot of world building, which you would expect from the first book in a fantasy series. 
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an great intro to portal fantasy. For someone who is new to the sub-genre, this would be a fantastic read without being too high fantasy. 

However, I do wish the worlds were a little more fleshed out. It seemed a little one note, but I did ultimately enjoy my time reading Havenfall.

I loved Everless but Havenfall missed the mark for me. Urban fantasy isn't my favorite genre anyway and I didn't feel connection with the characters.

Oh how I wanted to love this book... The cover is fabulous. The world-building is interesting (but I don't think there are "enough" worlds to call for a treaty...). The characters have so much potential in-so-far as diversity  and emotional depth. However, somewhere the story fell flat. It was predictable and it shouldn't have been. I really believe with better editing maybe this could have been a really good beginning to a very good fantasy. Instead, for me, it rates as "good."

This was really fun. It wasn't exactly something I loved monumentally, but it had great promise and the writing was really nicely done.

The writing was really strong with this one with a gorgeous well developed world. I got about half way though and I started to lose interest. I am a mood reader so could have been that but I had issue connecting to the main character. It is one I have in hardcover and will go back to at a later time.

This book was a DNF book for me. I apologize for forgetting to return to NetGalley and share my thoughts. The story was interesting and the idea/concept was what hooked me, but the writing fell short in holding my attention. The amount of information being told rather than intertwined into the story was distracting. I felt as if the MC was doing what Zach from Saved by the Bell does when he stops to explain his thoughts or what's going on to the audience. Others may like this style but it wasn't for me. Again, I'm sorry for the late feedback and I did not post any reviews on my blog/goodreads/Amazon since it was a dnf.

a bit of a slow start, but it picks up towards the middle! There’s just so much explanation that takes place in the beginning - how the magic works, the history of all the worlds, the politics - that it read more like a history lesson. Once everything is established, the pace picks up. The characters are interesting, and you almost never know who you can trust. I think this was an excellent set up for the next book, I just wish it had been a bit more engaging in the beginning.

I loved this take on a portal fantasy: Looking into the lives of the people in charge of protecting the portal and the challenges they face. Even though Havenfall was technically set on "earth" the sheer proximity to other worlds made it an exciting setting. Often times we see characters stumbling into new worlds and having to learn everything from scratch. I enjoyed seeing a character who already knew a lot of the background info but was still struggling as things changed rapidly all around her. I thought the mystery element was compelling as well because so many characters were tangled up in it I was never quite sure who I could trust.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! 

I'll admit, I fell in love with the cover of this book. Even knowing that I am not someone who should be reviewing anything YA fantasy, I couldn't help myself. Plus it's about the center of multiple worlds in....Colorado? I had high hopes for it. Seriously -- this cover is absolutely gorgeous. Every time I look at it, I see something new. 

I also thought this was the author's first book, and I was prepared to forgive a lot of things because of that. But on second look, it isn't. And honestly, I just found most of this book boring. There are 4 worlds that we know of, and one has been shut off because they have too much power and could easily harm the other worlds. (I am just realizing that also is similar to A Darker Shade of Magic, which I love....maybe that's what's wrong?) I mean I really love the concept of an Inn in the middle of nowhere that connects all these different magical places. But in actuality, this mystery in this book was fairly easy to figure out and thus I spent so many pages bored? 

I think the characters just lack a lot of depth that made it hard for me to pick up. I didn't care about Maddie much, despite the fact that her mom is LITERALLY ON DEATH ROW FOR KILLING HER BROTHER? Yeah, it's a weird plot point that kind of gets ignored most of the time. 

And I feel that the bisexuality of the main character is almost there for checking off boxes?

In the end, this is a good cover hiding a story that just....could have been developed more.

Havenfall by Sara Holland is a wonderful start to a new series. It has amazing world-building and character development. It has a very ambitious plot and looks forward to seeing where the story goes.

I loved it! I can't wait for the next book in the series! The main character was interesting and relatable. The story would be an easy hit with fantasy lovers but without feeling cliche or tired. I see very few bisexual main characters in fantasy and I thought it was done really well! I loved it even more than the author's other books Everless and felt that the tone of this book was much different, I would suggest this book to fantasy readers even if they weren't a fan of Holland's other work!

This drop-kicked me back into the reading groove after months of unintended literary starvation and I am so, so grateful to this book because of it. Also, I am desperate for the sequel.

I loved Sara Holland’s debut and was excited to read Havenfall. While this did keep my attention, I have to admit that the pacing was really slow. It’s filled with lots of conversation and many descriptions. Sad to say that with all of those descriptions, we weren’t really given any world-building. I didn’t really find the characters or execution of the plot to be really outstanding or interesting. While this was an interesting concept, I don’t find myself moving forward in this series.

My Rating : 4🌟
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Kindle/ Netgalley/ April2020
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<i> Thank you so much Netgalley & FFBC for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not influenced in any way. </i>
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Did you see this beautiful cover? I am not ashamed to say that I picked this book up for the cover. This book follows our main character Maddie as she navigates her old life by coming to Havenfall to her Uncle's inn, and all hell breaks lose, forcing her to take charge and figure how to keep the people and the Inn safe. 
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First, I loved all the worlds and the people that were described. We get a glimpse of how each world operates at the start, but it becomes really interesting to figure the characteristics of them all during the story when characters interact with each other. Maddie is strong, confident and goal oriented human and how she deals with the fall of her beloved Uncle and management of the Inn is really realistic to read about. From the characters point of view, I loved the dynamic between Maddie and her long time crush/best friend Brekken. 
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Second, I loved the friendship in this book. Usually when there is friendship between two girls, it can get messy or it can be amazing. This was definitely amazing. The fact that the friendship is tested to it's maximum bound is proof enough that I could fall in love with them both as the book progressed! Even when there were trying times and Maddie couldn't figure what to do with anything or how to handle the situation, you keep supporting her while reading. 
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Noww coming to the plotline and the character development, Can I just say I loved that ending? It was not a surprise for me, but I loved that ending. Maddie as a character got a lot of arc and I loved watching her grow along with the circumstances. Though I didn't get to read a lot about Brekken, he managed to make me like him (Even after that misunderstood stunt that happens at the beginning). I hated a character well enough to enjoy his fate towards the end of the book and I am not sorry at all ! Though I loved almost everything about this book, it missed something and I am not sure how to pin point it. The pacing was good, the characters were good, and the writing was really well done. 
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Overall, I loved the different worlds introduced in the story, it had an amazing friendship and romantic relationship, you get to relate to the main character and empathize with her as she struggles,  loved the characters and the writing style and I am really looking forward to the next book! If you are a fantasy lover, definitely check this book out !

I'm not a big fantasy reader so this one took me awhile to read but I enjoyed it and the story that went with it. There is a lot of magic, mystery and of course the aspect of fantas. and lots of emotions! 
Thank  you for the advanced copy!

Also the cover is gorgeous so thats another thing that caught my attention with this one!

I really loved Everless so I was excited to get my hands on this book. It was very entertaining but fell short of Everless for me; it wasn't quite as exciting. Still good YA and I will recommend students read it!

Author Sara Holland’s latest offering, Havenfall, a YA fantasy set in the mountains of the Colorado, breathes new life to the portal fantasy subgenre by bringing the fantastical worlds to us through the magical inn of Havenfall— a peaceful sanctuary that serves as neutral grounds for delegates of adjacent realms to meet and trade. 

It has been a hot minute since I have read a piece of portal fantasy, which seems to be a neglected YA subgenre in recent years. I am very pleased to say that this book delivered on everything I wanted in a portal fantasy, a gorgeous setting, intriguing magical races, a cozy inn to call home, and a good ole murder mystery. I love stories that take place in inns or taverns, and follow a character that would normally be in the background, or a side character. In the case of Havenfall, we get to follow along with the innkeeper’s niece. 

Maddie Morrow loves to spend her summers at Havenfall, an old inn up high in the mountains of Colorado, that barely anyone knows exists. This inn harbors portals to the magical realms that sit adjacent to earth and has stood as a pillar of peace for generations, serving as a neutral ground for people of all realms to meet and trade. Havenfall also serves as an escape from reality for Maddie, as her mom sits on death row, accused of killing Maddie’s brother, and her father continues to refuse to believe such a place as Havenfall exists. It’s also where she gets to see Brekken, her icy, Fiordian boyfriend. Someday, Maddie hopes to take over the inn, once her Uncle retires. Havenfall is her home. 

However, when a dead body is found on the inn’s grounds, Brekken goes missing, Maddie’s Uncle is found in a coma, and a door to a dangerous realm that has been closed off for a hundred years is cracked open, the peace of Havenfall is quickly shattered. As Maddie searches for the truth behind the murder, Maddie finds herself in charge and responsible for everyone’s safety at the inn, and she realizes those who she thought she could trust, have betrayed her, and everyone is hiding something. 

Sara Holland has done a phenomenal job with this setting. I could clearly picture the rustic, glam of Havenfall and the sleepy town of Haven. I want to stay there. The realms all have different settings, their own culture, and own magic. While we don’t get to go to the realms themselves, we do get to learn about through the people that come through the portals. We get to be with the Innkeeper’s niece, and learn about the realms like she does (also, if you are not from the realm, you will suffocate after a short time being in it). 

The addition of the classic whodunit murder mystery was delightful, especially in the setting of the old inn and the forest grounds around it. There is sneaking through guest bedrooms, hunting a monster in the forest, and all kinds of investigation that makes my Nancy Drew loving heart squeal. I was able to guess many  of the plot twists, but I was happy that I was correct. I do think that the culprit is foreshadowed pretty heavily. 

Finally, I do think Maddie as a main character is quite relatable, albeit a little “Mary Sue-ish” at times. I appreciated her ability to rise to the occasion of taking care of the inn in the time of crisis, without complaining or wallowing in self-pity. Of course she still got stressed and made mistakes, but she’s human, and humans do that under extreme pressure.  I do think it is kind of ridiculous how unhelpful the other staff members were acting, but I’ll let it slide.

The ending is satisfying, but allows enough unanswered questions for the sequel. Also, I sense a love triangle in the next installment. I am interested to see where the story heads next.

So, if you love murder mysteries, charming old inns with secrets, and sleepy mountain towns, then Havenfall is the perfect story for you.